Cradle of civilization
Assyrian law
Babylonian astronomy
Babylonian law
Babylonian mathematics
Cuneiform law
History of the Middle East

v
t
e

The ancient
Near EastNear East was the home of early civilizations within a
region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia
(modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran, northeastern
SyriaSyria and
Kuwait),[1] ancient Egypt, ancient
IranIran (Elam, Media,
ParthiaParthia and
Persia), Anatolia/
Asia MinorAsia Minor and
Armenian HighlandsArmenian Highlands (Turkey's Eastern
AnatoliaAnatolia Region, Armenia, northwestern Iran, southern Georgia, and
western Azerbaijan),[2] the
LevantLevant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Palestine,
Israel, and Jordan),
CyprusCyprus and the Arabian Peninsula. The ancient
Near EastNear East is studied in the fields of
Near Eastern archaeology and
ancient history.
The history of the ancient
Near EastNear East begins with the rise of
SumerSumer in
the 4th millennium BC, though the date it ends varies. The term covers
the
Bronze AgeBronze Age and the
Iron AgeIron Age in the region, until either the
conquest by the
Achaemenid EmpireAchaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, that by
Macedonian EmpireMacedonian Empire in the 4th century BC, or the
Muslim conquestsMuslim conquests in
the 7th century AD.
The ancient
Near EastNear East is considered[3] one of the cradles of
civilization. It was here that intensive year-round agriculture was
first practiced, leading to the rise of the first dense urban
settlements and the development of many familiar institutions of
civilization, such as social stratification, centralized government
and empires, organized religion and organized warfare. It also saw the
creation of the first writing system and law codes, early advances
that laid the foundations of astronomy and mathematics, and the
invention of the wheel.
During the period, states became increasingly large, until the region
became controlled by militaristic empires that had conquered a number
of different cultures.

The phrase "ancient Near East" utilizes the 19th-century distinction
between
Near EastNear East and
Far EastFar East as global regions of interest to the
British Empire. The distinction began during the Crimean War. The last
major exclusive partition of the east between these two terms was
current in diplomacy in the late 19th century, with the Hamidian
Massacres of the
ArmeniansArmenians and Assyrians by the
Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire in
1894-1896 and the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The two theatres
were described by the statesmen and advisors of the
British EmpireBritish Empire as
"the Near East" and "the Far East". Shortly after, they were to share
the stage with Middle East, which came to prevail in the 20th century
and continues in modern times.
As
Near EastNear East had meant the lands of the
Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire at roughly its
maximum extent, on the fall of that empire, the use of
Near EastNear East in
diplomacy was reduced significantly in favor of the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the ancient
Near EastNear East had become distinct. The Ottoman rule
over the
Near EastNear East ranged from
ViennaVienna (to the north) to the tip of the
Arabian PeninsulaArabian Peninsula (to the south), from
EgyptEgypt (in the west) to the
borders of
IraqIraq (in the east). The 19th-century archaeologists added
IranIran to their definition, which was never under the Ottomans, but they
excluded all of
EuropeEurope and, generally, Egypt, which had parts in the
empire.
Periodization[edit]
Ancient
Near EastNear East periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide
time into discrete named blocks, or eras, of the Near East. The result
is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on Near
East periods of time with relatively stable characteristics.

Chalcolithic[edit]
Early Mesopotamia[edit]
The
Uruk periodUruk period (c. 4000 to 3100 BC) existed from the protohistoric
ChalcolithicChalcolithic to the Early
Bronze AgeBronze Age period in the history of
Mesopotamia, following the Ubaid period.[4] Named after the Sumerian
city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in
Mesopotamia. It was followed by the Sumerian civilization.[5] The late
Uruk periodUruk period (34–32 centuries) saw the gradual emergence of the
cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age.
Bronze Age[edit]
Further information: Short chronology timeline

Early Bronze Age[edit]
SumerSumer and Akkad[edit]
Sumer, located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known
civilization in the world. It lasted from the first settlement of
EriduEridu in the
Ubaid periodUbaid period (late 6th millennium BC) through the Uruk
period (4th millennium BC) and the Dynastic periods (3rd millennium
BC) until the rise of
AssyriaAssyria and
BabylonBabylon in the late 3rd millennium
BC and early 2nd millennium BC respectively. The
AkkadianAkkadian Empire,
founded by Sargon the Great, lasted from the 24th to the 21st century
BC, and was regarded by many as the world's first empire. The
Akkadians eventually fragmented into
AssyriaAssyria and Babylonia.
Elam[edit]
Ancient
ElamElam lay to the east of
SumerSumer and Akkad, in the far west and
southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of
KhuzestanKhuzestan and Ilam Province. In the Old Elamite period, c. 3200 BC, it
consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centered on Anshan, and
from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered on
SusaSusa in the
KhuzestanKhuzestan lowlands.
ElamElam was absorbed into the
Assyrian EmpireAssyrian Empire in the
9th to 7th centuries BC; however, the civilization endured up until
539 BC when it was finally overrun by the Iranian Persians. The
Proto-ElamiteProto-Elamite civilization existed from c. 3200 BC to 2700 BC, when
Susa, the later capital of the Elamites, began to receive influence
from the cultures of the Iranian plateau. In archaeological terms,
this corresponds to the late
BaneshBanesh period. This civilization is
recognized as the oldest in
IranIran and was largely contemporary with its
neighbour, the Sumerian civilization. The
Proto-ElamiteProto-Elamite script is an
Early
Bronze AgeBronze Age writing system briefly in use for the ancient Elamite
language (which was a Language isolate) before the introduction of
Elamite Cuneiform.
The Amorites[edit]
The
AmoritesAmorites were a nomadic Semitic people who occupied the country
west of the
EuphratesEuphrates from the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.
In the earliest Sumerian sources, beginning about 2400 BC, the land of
the
AmoritesAmorites ("the Mar.tu land") is associated with the West,
including
SyriaSyria and Canaan, although their ultimate origin may have
been Arabia.[6] They ultimately settled in Mesopotamia, ruling Isin,
Larsa, and later Babylon.
Middle Bronze Age[edit]

Late Bronze Age[edit]
The
HurriansHurrians lived in northern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia and areas to the immediate
east and west, beginning approximately 2500 BC. They probably
originated in the
CaucasusCaucasus and entered from the north, but this is not
certain. Their known homeland was centred on Subartu, the Khabur River
valley, and later they established themselves as rulers of small
kingdoms throughout northern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia and Syria. The largest and
most influential
HurrianHurrian nation was the kingdom of Mitanni. The
HurriansHurrians played a substantial part in the History of the Hittites.
Ishuwa was an ancient kingdom in Anatolia. The name is first attested
in the second millennium BC, and is also spelled Išuwa. In the
classical period, the land was a part of Armenia.
Ishuwa was one of
the places where agriculture developed very early on in the Neolithic.
Urban centres emerged in the upper
EuphratesEuphrates river valley around 3500
BC. The first states followed in the third millennium BC. The name
Ishuwa is not known until the literate period of the second millennium
BC. Few literate sources from within
Ishuwa have been discovered and
the primary source material comes from Hittite texts. To the west of
Ishuwa lay the kingdom of the Hittites, and this nation was an
untrustworthy neighbour. The Hittite king
Hattusili I (c. 1600 BC) is
reported to have marched his army across the
EuphratesEuphrates river and
destroyed the cities there. This corresponds well with burnt
destruction layers discovered by archaeologists at town sites in
Ishuwa of roughly the same date. After the end of the Hittite empire
in the early 12th century BC a new state emerged in Ishuwa. The city
of
MalatyaMalatya became the centre of one of the so-called Neo-Hittite
kingdom. The movement of nomadic people may have weakened the kingdom
of
MalatyaMalatya before the final Assyrian invasion. The decline of the
settlements and culture in
Ishuwa from the 7th century BC until the
Roman period was probably caused by this movement of people. The
ArmeniansArmenians later settled in the area since they were natives of the
Armenian Plateau and related to the earlier inhabitants of Ishuwa.
KizzuwatnaKizzuwatna is the name of an ancient kingdom of the second millennium
BC. It was situated in the highlands of southeastern Anatolia, near
the
Gulf of İskenderunGulf of İskenderun in modern-day Turkey. It encircled the Taurus
Mountains and the Ceyhan river. The centre of the kingdom was the city
of Kummanni, situated in the highlands. In a later era, the same
region was known as Cilicia.
LuwianLuwian is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the
Indo-European language family.
LuwianLuwian speakers gradually spread
through
AnatoliaAnatolia and became a contributing factor to the downfall,
after c. 1180 BC, of the Hittite Empire, where it was already widely
spoken.
LuwianLuwian was also the language spoken in the
Neo-HittiteNeo-Hittite states
of Syria, such as
MelidMelid and Carchemish, as well as in the central
Anatolian kingdom of
TabalTabal that flourished around 900 BC.
LuwianLuwian has
been preserved in two forms, named after the writing systems used to
represent them: Cuneiform Luwian, and Hieroglyphic Luwian.
Mari was an ancient Sumerian and
AmoriteAmorite city, located 11 kilometres
north-west of the modern town of
Abu KamalAbu Kamal on the western bank of
EuphratesEuphrates river, some 120 km southeast of Deir ez-Zor, Syria. It
is thought to have been inhabited since the 5th millennium BC,
although it flourished from 2900 BC until 1759 BC, when it was sacked
by Hammurabi.
MitanniMitanni was a
HurrianHurrian kingdom in northern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia from c. 1500 BC,
at the height of its power, during the 14th century BC, encompassing
what is today southeastern Turkey, northern
SyriaSyria and northern Iraq
(roughly corresponding to Kurdistan), centred on the capital
WashukanniWashukanni whose precise location has not yet been determined by
archaeologists. The
MitanniMitanni kingdom is thought to have been a feudal
state led by a warrior nobility of Indo-Aryan descent, who invaded the
LevantLevant region at some point during the 17th century BC, their
influence apparent in a linguistic superstratum in
MitanniMitanni records.
The spread to
SyriaSyria of a distinct pottery type associated with the
Kura-Araxes cultureKura-Araxes culture has been connected with this movement, although
its date is somewhat too early.[7]
YamhadYamhad was an ancient Amorite
kingdom. A substantial
HurrianHurrian population also settled in the kingdom,
and the
HurrianHurrian culture influenced the area. The kingdom was powerful
during the Middle Bronze Age, c. 1800-1600 BC. Its biggest rival was
QatnaQatna further south.
YamhadYamhad was finally destroyed by the
HittitesHittites in
the 16th century BC.
The
AramaeansAramaeans were a Semitic (West
Semitic languageSemitic language group),
semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who had lived in upper Mesopotamia
and Syria.
AramaeansAramaeans have never had a unified empire; they were
divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. Yet to
these
AramaeansAramaeans befell the privilege of imposing their language and
culture upon the entire
Near EastNear East and beyond, fostered in part by the
mass relocations enacted by successive empires, including the
Assyrians and Babylonians. Scholars even have used the term
'Aramaization' for the Assyro-Babylonian peoples' languages and
cultures, that have become Aramaic-speaking.[8]
The
Sea peoplesSea peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring
raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores
of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter
or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty, and
especially during Year 8 of
Ramesses IIIRamesses III of the 20th Dynasty.[9] The
Egyptian Pharaoh
MerneptahMerneptah explicitly refers to them by the term "the
foreign-countries (or 'peoples'[10]) of the sea"[11][12] in his Great
Karnak Inscription.[13] Although some scholars believe that they
"invaded" Cyprus, Hatti and the Levant, this hypothesis is
disputed.[14]
Bronze AgeBronze Age collapse[edit]
The
Bronze AgeBronze Age collapse is the name given by those historians who see
the transition from the Late
Bronze AgeBronze Age to the Early
Iron AgeIron Age as
violent, sudden and culturally disruptive, expressed by the collapse
of palace economies of the Aegean and Anatolia, which were replaced
after a hiatus by the isolated village cultures of the
Dark AgeDark Age period
in history of the ancient Middle East. Some have gone so far as to
call the catalyst that ended the
Bronze AgeBronze Age a "catastrophe".[15] The
Bronze AgeBronze Age collapse may be seen in the context of a technological
history that saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of
iron-working technology in the region, beginning with precocious
iron-working in what is now
RomaniaRomania in the 13th and 12th
centuries.[16] The cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the
Hittite EmpireHittite Empire in
AnatoliaAnatolia and Syria, and the Egyptian Empire in Syria
and Israel, the scission of long-distance trade contacts and sudden
eclipse of literacy occurred between 1206 and 1150 BC. In the first
phase of this period, almost every city between
TroyTroy and Gaza was
violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied thereafter (for
example, Hattusas, Mycenae, Ugarit). The gradual end of the Dark Age
that ensued saw the rise of settled
Neo-HittiteNeo-Hittite and
AramaeanAramaean kingdoms
of the mid-10th century BC, and the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Iron Age[edit]

During the Early Iron Age, from 911 BC, the
Neo-Assyrian EmpireNeo-Assyrian Empire arose,
vying with
BabyloniaBabylonia and other lesser powers for dominance of the
region, though not until the reforms of
Tiglath-Pileser IIITiglath-Pileser III in the 8th
century BC,[17][18] did it become a powerful and vast empire. In the
Middle Assyrian periodMiddle Assyrian period of the Late Bronze Age,
AssyriaAssyria had been a
kingdom of northern
MesopotamiaMesopotamia (modern-day northern Iraq), competing
for dominance with its southern Mesopotamian rival Babylonia. From
1365-1076 it had been a major imperial power, rivaling
EgyptEgypt and the
Hittite Empire. Beginning with the campaign of Adad-nirari II, it
became a vast empire, overthrowing 25th dynasty
EgyptEgypt and conquering
Egypt, the Middle East, and large swaths of Asia Minor, ancient Iran,
the
CaucasusCaucasus and east Mediterranean. The
Neo-Assyrian EmpireNeo-Assyrian Empire succeeded
the
Middle Assyrian periodMiddle Assyrian period (14th to 10th century BC). Some scholars,
such as Richard Nelson Frye, regard the
Neo-Assyrian EmpireNeo-Assyrian Empire to be the
first real empire in human history.[19] During this period, Aramaic
was also made an official language of the empire, alongside the
AkkadianAkkadian language.[19]
The states of the
Neo-HittiteNeo-Hittite kingdoms were Luwian,
AramaicAramaic and
Phoenician-speaking political entities of
Iron AgeIron Age northern
SyriaSyria and
southern
AnatoliaAnatolia that arose following the collapse of the Hittite
Empire around 1180 BC and lasted until roughly 700 BC. The term
"Neo-Hittite" is sometimes reserved specifically for the
Luwian-speaking principalities like
MelidMelid (Malatya) and Karkamish
(Carchemish), although in a wider sense the broader cultural term
"Syro-Hittite" is now applied to all the entities that arose in
south-central
AnatoliaAnatolia following the Hittite collapse – such as
TabalTabal and
QuwêQuwê – as well as those of northern and coastal
Syria.[20]
UrartuUrartu was an ancient kingdom of
ArmeniaArmenia and North Mesopotamia[21]
which existed from c. 860 BC, emerging from the Late
Bronze AgeBronze Age until
585 BC. The Kingdom of
UrartuUrartu was located in the mountainous plateau
between Asia Minor, the Iranian Plateau, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus
mountains, later known as the Armenian Highland, and it centered on
Lake VanLake Van (present-day eastern Turkey). The name corresponds to the
Biblical Ararat.
The term
Neo-Babylonian EmpireNeo-Babylonian Empire refers to
BabyloniaBabylonia under the rule of
the 11th ("Chaldean") dynasty, from the revolt of
NabopolassarNabopolassar in 623
BC until the invasion of
Cyrus the GreatCyrus the Great in 539 BC (Although the last
ruler of
BabyloniaBabylonia (Nabonidus) was in fact from the Assyrian city of
HarranHarran and not Chaldean), notably including the reign of
Nebuchadrezzar II. Through the centuries of Assyrian domination,
BabyloniaBabylonia enjoyed a prominent status, and revolted at the slightest
indication that it did not. However, the Assyrians always managed to
restore Babylonian loyalty, whether through the granting of increased
privileges, or militarily. That finally changed in 627 BC with the
death of the last strong Assyrian ruler, Ashurbanipal, and Babylonia
rebelled under
NabopolassarNabopolassar the Chaldean a few years later. In
alliance with the
MedesMedes and Scythians,
NinevehNineveh was sacked in 612 and
HarranHarran in 608 BC, and the seat of empire was again transferred to
Babylonia. Subsequently, the
MedesMedes controlled much of the ancient Near
East from their base in
EcbatanaEcbatana (modern-day Hamadan, Iran), most
notably most of what is now Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and the South
Caucasus.
Following the fall of the Medes, the
Achaemenid EmpireAchaemenid Empire was the first
of the Persian
EmpiresEmpires to rule over most of the
Near EastNear East and far
beyond, and the second great Iranian empire (after the Median Empire).
At the height of its power, encompassing approximately 7.5 million
square kilometers, the
Achaemenid EmpireAchaemenid Empire was territorially the largest
empire of classical antiquity, and the first world empire. It spanned
three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), including apart from its
core in modern-day Iran, the territories of modern Iraq, the Caucasus
(Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Abkhazia), Asia Minor
(Turkey), Thrace, Bulgaria, Greece, many of the
Black SeaBlack Sea coastal
regions, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria,
Afghanistan, Central Asia, parts of Pakistan, and all significant
population centers of ancient
EgyptEgypt as far west as Libya.[22] It is
noted in western history as the foe of the
Greek city states in the
Greco-Persian Wars, for freeing the
IsraelitesIsraelites from their Babylonian
captivity, and for instituting
AramaicAramaic as the empire's official
language.
Religions[edit]
Main article: Religions of the ancient Near East
Ancient civilizations in the
Near EastNear East were deeply influenced by their
spiritual beliefs, which generally did not distinguish between heaven
and Earth.[23] They believed that divine action influenced all mundane
matters, and also believed in divination (ability to predict the
future).[23] Omens were often inscribed in ancient
EgyptEgypt and
Mesopotamia, as were records of major events.[23]
See also[edit]

Ancient
Near EastNear East studies
Ancient history
Cities of the ancient Near East
Economy of Urartu
History of Mesopotamia
History of pottery in the Southern Levant
List of museums of ancient Near Eastern art

References[edit]

^ "Daily Life In Ancient Mesopotamia". Retrieved 28 February
2015.
^ "Armenian Highland". Retrieved 28 February 2015.
^ Samuel Noah Kramer, History Begins at Sumer, (tr. Mendelson, F. A.,
Moscow, 1963).
^
SumerSumer and the Sumerians, by Harriet E. W. Crawford, p 69
^
SumerSumer and the Sumerians, by Harriet E. W. Crawford, p 75
^ Amorite[permanent dead link] Encyclopædia Britannica
^ James P. Mallory, "Kuro-Araxes Culture", Encyclopedia of
Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.
^ See page 9. Archived 2011-07-17 at the Wayback Machine.
^ A convenient table of sea peoples in hieroglyphics, transliteration
and English is given in the dissertation of Woodhuizen, 2006, who
developed it from works of Kitchen cited there.
^ As noted by Gardiner V.1 p.196, other texts have

ḫȝty.w "foreign-peoples"; both terms can refer to the concept of
"foreigners" as well. Zangger in the external link below expresses a
commonly held view that "sea peoples" does not translate this and
other expressions but is an academic innovation. The Woudhuizen
dissertation and the Morris paper identify
Gaston MasperoGaston Maspero as the first
to use the term "peuples de la mer" in 1881.
^ Gardiner V.1 p.196.
^ Manassa p.55.
^ Line 52. The inscription is shown in Manassa p.55 plate 12.
^ Several articles in Oren.
^ Drews, Robert (1995). The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare
and the Catastrophe CA 1200 B.C. United States: Princeton University
Press. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-691-02591-9.
^ See A. Stoia and the other essays in M.L. Stig Sørensen and R.
Thomas, eds., The Bronze Age—
Iron AgeIron Age Transition in
EuropeEurope (Oxford)
1989, and T.H. Wertime and J.D. Muhly, The Coming of the Age of Iron
(New Haven) 1980.
^ Assyrian Eponym List
^ Tadmor, H. (1994). The Inscriptions of Tiglath-Pileser III, King of
Assyria.pp.29
^ a b Frye, Richard N. (1992). "
AssyriaAssyria and Syria: Synonyms". PhD.,
Harvard University. Journal of Near Eastern Studies. And the ancient
Assyrian empire, was the first real, empire in history. What do I
mean, it had many different peoples included in the empire, all
speaking Aramaic, and becoming what may be called, "Assyrian
citizens." That was the first time in history, that we have this. For
example, Elamite musicians, were brought to Nineveh, and they were
'made Assyrians' which means, that Assyria, was more than a small
country, it was the empire, the whole Fertile Crescent.
^ Hawkins, John David; 1982a. "
Neo-HittiteNeo-Hittite States in
SyriaSyria and
Anatolia" in Cambridge Ancient History (2nd ed.) 3.1: 372-441. Also:
Hawkins, John David; 1995. "The Political Geography of North
SyriaSyria and
South-East
AnatoliaAnatolia in the Neo-Assyrian Period" in Neo-Assyrian
Geography, Mario Liverani (ed.), Università di Roma "La Sapienza",
Dipartimento di Scienze storiche, archeologiche e anthropologiche
dell’Antichità, Quaderni di Geografia Storica 5: Roma: Sargon srl,
87-101.
^
UrartuUrartu article, Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2007
^ Full translation of the Behistun Inscription
^ a b c Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. & Jeremy A. Sabloff (1979).
Ancient Civilizations: The
Near EastNear East and Mesoamerica.
Benjamin/Cummings Publishing. p. 4.

The History of the Ancient
Near EastNear East – A database of the prehistoric
Near EastNear East as well as its ancient history up to approximately the
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans ...
Vicino Oriente[permanent dead link] – Vicino Oriente is the journal
of the Section
Near EastNear East of the Department of Historical,
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences of Antiquity of Rome 'La
Sapienza' University. The Journal, which is published yearly, deals
with Near Eastern History, Archaeology, Epigraphy, extending its view
also on the whole
MediterraneanMediterranean with the study of Phoenician and Punic
documents. It is accompanied by 'Quaderni di Vicino Oriente', a
monograph series.
Ancient Near East.net – an information and content portal for the
archaeology, ancient history, and culture of the ancient
Near EastNear East and
Egypt
Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution The Freer Gallery houses
a famous collection of ancient Near Eastern artefacts and records,
notebooks and photographs of excavations in
SamarraSamarra (Iraq), Persepolis
and
PasargadaePasargadae (Iran)
The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives The
archives for The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
houses the papers of
Ernst HerzfeldErnst Herzfeld regarding his many excavations,
along with records of other archeological excavations in the ancient
Near East.
Archaeowiki.org—a wiki for the research and documentation of the
ancient
Near EastNear East and Egypt
ETANA – website hosted by a consortium of universities in the
interests of providing digitized resources and relevant web links
Ancient
Near EastNear East Photographs This collection, created by Professor
Scott Noegel, documents artifacts and archaeological sites of the
ancient Near East; from the University of Washington Libraries Digital
Image Collection
Near EastNear East Images A directory of archaeological images of the ancient
Near East
Bioarchaeology of the
Near EastNear East An Open Access journal